Can your hair really turn white from a tramatic experience?

I think it can. A lot of peculiar things happen due to stress. I’m only 30 but this last year, magically, about 3 white/gray hairs showed up. I guess it could be coincidence but… not likely based on this year. XD

Not immediately – the color comes from the pigment cells at the root. Once the hair has emerged, it’s basically dead/inert, similar to the part of your fingernails that extend beyond the finger.

well if it can… I’m surprised I’m not grey/gray yet…

Absolutely. I guy I know sister was killed when we were really young and he ended up with a white streak through his hair, which stayed with him into his teens when he started to dye it.

Apparently, having a lock of white hair grow in that’s white after a traumatic event happens quite a bit but it is rather uncommon. A friend of mine in high school got one on the back of his head, an area about the size of a quarter went stark white following a car wreck he was almost killed in when he was eight. He’s had it ever since.

It’s called Poliosis, and sometimes it can look rather odd. It can happen after being ill or suffering trauma.

And, you know that was the inspiration for Haley Joel Osment’s white lock in the sixth sense. Just, some like trivia and junk for you.

lol4rl, @asmonet, ”[...] happens quite a bit but it is rather uncommon” made my head explode.

That would be my quick edit and re edit retardation, love. :)

Matt Lucas from the TV show Little Britain lost all his hair and the ability to grow any ever again (alopeceia universalis) in a car accident when he was 12, so I can imagine hair turning white from shock is also possible. I imagine such a thing is rare, though, as is Matt Lucas’s condition.

My example is maybe not based on so much of a “traumatic” experience (although some of my peers might challenge it) but more a stress related occurance.-

I’ve just literally finished my Masters at Uni and it’s pretty fair to say it was tough and stressful. One of the poor girls who studied with me, really dealt with the pressure badly. As a result of stressing out over EVERYTHING the poor blossom started sprouting grey hairs. It started as a few but then the took over. I know her family quite well and she spoke to them to check if it was hereditary. Unfortunately both her mum and dad had no recollection of any family members turning grey so young.

The poor darling has only just turned 22…..

Within a year of the birth of our twins my spouse went prematurely white.
Kids- no stress there… ;)

I have teenagers and ever since they became that age I have been getting more and more gray hairs. Coincidence? I think not.

Hahahaha- @Dog & @Darwin…. so, basically what I have heard from all that is “don’t have children!” Correct? lol

@Courtybean You learn fast!

@Dog – I’ve found the best solution to the dilemma of “wanting to have kids, but not wanting all the crappy issues that comes with having them”- I’m a teacher. I get to give them back at the end of the day! :-D

@Courtybean – That’s true, but then you have to grade all their work, unless you teach pre-K.

True- but I’ve become very good at making time within lessons to mark (std’s marking each others work during class for basic stuff,) but hey – a the end of the day I would prefer to read 22 information reports on Volcanoes than I would have 2 kids to be responsible for 24/7! Lol- I’m only 24 though so ask me again in another 10 years and we’ll see what’s changed! ;-s

I have turned markedly gray over the last six weeks since a serious cycling accident which resulted in multiple fractures. I have long hair and the colour at tip and middle is much darker than the top 3 inches of hair on my head. This is not white overnight, but is a graying due to trauma… so it does happen. I wish there was a way to reverse it – if you know of anything please let me know.